1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of hand tools and more specifically to a hand tool designed to open buckets or other similar containers with little effort.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many commercial, industrial, and residential products are packaged in bucket type containers. For example, manufacturers often package products such as rubbing compound or roofing material in large, 5-gallon plastic buckets. Several devices exist for the removal of the lids of these containers.
For example, the Clark device, U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,090, the Skillern device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,455, and the Russell device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,436 all describe tools that open various types of buckets, including the 5-gallon plastic type. These devices apply pressure to the flange of the lid and pry it off the bucket, leaving the lid intact. However, while these types of devices allow the bucket lid to be re-used, they typically take a substantial amount of time to break the seal and remove the lid.